Los Angeles and Orange counties are once again home to the longest amounts of time drivers waste in traffic congestion, at 72 hours per year. Nationally, the average amount of time lost to traffic congestion is 38 hours -- nearly a full week's work.
"Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute found that motorists in Los Angeles and Orange counties wasted an average of 72 hours in rush-hour traffic in 2005. That's one day shy of two full work weeks a year and 20 hours more than in 1985."
"In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, drivers wasted an average of 49 hours stuck in peak-period congestion during 2005. But the increase in delays since 1985 -- a stunning 40 extra hours -- is twice what Los Angeles motorists experienced."
"The average annual delay in the Oxnard-Ventura area at rush hour was eight hours in 1985. It hit 39 hours in 2005, according to the institute, which is based at Texas A&M University."
"Nationally, the study shows that time wasted in rush-hour traffic has steadily risen from an average of 14 hours in 1982 -- the first year of the study -- to 38 hours in 2005."
